


all is fair in love and war (but i can't fight with you anymore)

by joekavaliers



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode 9 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24667003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joekavaliers/pseuds/joekavaliers
Summary: Constano Grissini is a good soldier, but he is not a good assassin.(episode 9 au. grissini is there at the lingerie store attack)
Relationships: Jet Rocks & Constano Grissini
Comments: 15
Kudos: 72





	all is fair in love and war (but i can't fight with you anymore)

**Author's Note:**

> no edits no spellcheck we write our fic and die like men! 
> 
> there's jet/constano romance in the fic if you squint but it's not like real jet/constano. so. yeah. 
> 
> title from allies or enemies by the crane wives 
> 
> slight trigger warning for vomit at the beginning of this fic. it's not a graphic description but it is there

Constano Grissini is a good soldier, but he is not a good assassin.

The moment his group arrives back at the campsite and Senator—no, _Imperator_ —Ciabatta and the other men have left him, Grissini runs toward the nearest trench and vomits. The image of the princess Jet replays in his mind.

It's not the sight of her broken body, crumped over with two daggers in her abdomen, tears in her eyes and begging her sister to run, which makes him sick. It's the memory of her at the tournament, vibrant and smiling as she knocks him on his ass. It's her at the ambush on the Sucrosi road, laughing as she skewers a cheese bandit. It's her in the church, newly bastardized and defiant as he stabs the Pontifex with a dagger originally meant for her father.

It's her in all of the places she could have died but didn't. It's him in all the moments where he was a good soldier who followed orders, and it didn't lead to the princess's death. 

But that's the past, and right now, the princess Jet Rocks is—Grissini _hopes_ —with the bulb now. Right now, Grissini is in Candia. He is a good soldier who follows orders, and even if he did not stab her himself, he aided in the ambush and did nothing to stop the daggers from entering her side.

Constano Grissini retches one last time, wipes his mouth, and walks back to camp. The Candians undoubtedly know that they're coming now, and the entire encampment is getting ready for battle. Grissini heads toward his tent, where he stashed away the armor that he was once so proud to wear. The assassination had required stealth and discretion, and Ciabatta had ordered Grissini to leave his armor at home and wear dark clothes that helped him blend into the night instead.

Without his armor on, dressed in all black, Grissini thinks he looks like death itself. 

Though he hears his men singing an old Ceresian drinking song as they don their gear, Grissini stays silent. Putting armor on is muscle memory to him now, so he stares straight ahead and tries not to think of the dead princess as he readies for battle. All he wants to do is lie down and let his dreams take over, but he is still a soldier, and there is still work to do.

"You okay, Constano?" one of his fellow soldiers, Panettone, asks.

"Huh?"

"Is this about the princess?" Pita, his best friend presses. 

"It's nothing," Grissini lies. The soldiers need their morale, and Grissini cannot threaten that by mourning the fallen princess. 

"Look, you did nothing wrong," Pita states. 

"Yeah, Candia went against the Concord," Panettone explains. "It's just war." 

"It's not _just_ war," Grissini snaps. "Jet did nothing wrong."

"Constano, tell me." Pita swallows. "Were you soft for her?"

Grissini takes a deep breath and tries to keep his voice steady. "We were allies, once."

"That's not what I asked."

 _And what would the right answer be?_ Grissini thinks to himself. He isn't in love with her; there was not enough time for that. But fond of her? After she showed her bravery on the Sucrosi road and fought valiantly in the tournament and refused to give up at the cathedral? Princess Jet Rocks was a pretty young woman and a fierce fighter. Grissini can appreciate that.

"She deserved a more honorable death," Grissini says after a moment of hesitation. 

Panettone lets out a deep, hearty laugh. "When are you gonna learn, Grissini? There's no honor in war."

But what did that mean for an honorable soldier? 

Constano Grissini had been without honor once before when he was twelve-year-old orphan begging for scraps on the streets of Ceresia. One day, he tried to pickpocket a much younger Senator Ciabatta. Instead of getting mad, the Senator sent the boy to live with a modestly wealthy merchant family, told him to join the Imperial Guard when he was old enough, and wished him luck.

Senator Ciabatta was an honorable man, and he had given Constano Grissini the chance to be a good man.

Senator Ciabatta was not an honorable man, but he had given Constano Grissini the chance to be a good soldier.

Senator Ciabatta is not an honorable man, and Constano Grissini is not a good man either.

Grissini finishes donning his armor, not speaking for the rest of the night. When the morning comes, he lines up with his troops, barking orders regarding the formations that he knows like the back of his hand. Constano Grissini is a good soldier, and he will make sure they win the day regardless of his own guilt.

The troops lay siege to Castle Candy, and as the Bulb would have it, he comes face-to-face with princess Ruby Rocks. He locks eyes with her. He remembers the way Jet, broken and on death's door, told her sister to _run_. 

His orders are to kill any and all who defy Calorum, and that includes the Rocks family.

A good soldier follows orders.

Constano Grissini is not sure he wants to be a good soldier anymore. 

"I'm sorry," he says, holding his spear steady but not moving to attack. 

"I'm sure you are." With a flick of her wrist, Ruby Rocks magicks the spear out of Grissini's hand and points it at his throat. 

"Jet deserved better."

"You _do not_ get to say her name."

"There's a secret passageway in the East Wing, right? You're heading there right now, aren't you?" 

The tip of the spear edges closer to Grissini's throat. 

"Don't go that way. There are soldiers there ready to attack you when you get out."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"May the Bulb strike me down if I lie."

"I'm not a Bulbian anymore."

"Then what _are_ you?" 

"What are _you_?"

Constano Grissini can hear shouting all around him, as his men are locked in battle with Candian troops. Constano Grissini is a good soldier, fighting in a battle he never asked for, face-to-face with the twin sister of the girl who he saw die mere hours before. 

Constano Grissini is a good soldier, but what he wants to be now more than ever is a good and honorable man. 

"Someone who wishes he didn't let Jet die."

Ruby lets the spear drop. Grissini picks it back up, turns around, and begins attacking a lowly tartguard.

Before the day is over, Grissini has a sword in his back, courtesy of Panettone himself as punishment for not following orders and letting Ruby get away.

As he lays on the floor of Castle Candy, bleeding out, Constano Grissini tries to remember who he is before the light takes him.

Constano Grissini is not a good soldier. Constano Grissini is not a good assassin. Constano Grissini is not a good man.

Constano Grissini is just dead. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank u to the wikipedia page listening italian foods for all of their continued support during these trying times.


End file.
